The Tolkien Under Age Club

[Arwen Imladris]

This is for all of us who are too young to post in the The Tolkien Coming of Age Club. That would be anyone who is under 18. Please tell us how long ago you first read the book(s); if you like, your age at that time and what prompted you to read Tolkien.

I first read The hobbit and LOTR when I was ~10ish. That would be about 6 years ago. Before that my parents had read it to me.

[*Varda*]

I can't remember my age when I first read the hobbit. I first read LOTR 3 years ago...which would make me 12 at the time. I'm 15 now. Since then I've read LOTR 4 times, Silm once, and UT. Still summoning up the courage to read Lost Tales 1.

[Alkanoonion]

Ok I am 25 yrs old; I started reading the Hobbit when I was 10 so I have been reading LOTR for 15 years. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[gollum*elf*pup]

I read the Hobbit first when I was ten for a book report and then I read lotr after that. I don't really know if that's right, cause I have an absolutely horrible memory. I can't even remmeber what I had for lunch yesterday. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Galadrie1]

I first had The Hobbit read to me when I was 9 (the person reading it didn't read the last chapter for some reason, though, so I actually finished it when I was 10. I've read the whole book maybe 5 or 6 times since then.. I'm not too sure).
I didn't finish reading LOTR until March this year. I'm going to read the Silm as soon as I can afford to buy it (right now I'm saving my money for the Extended edition of the LOTR DVD).

[red]

This is for all of us who are too young to post in the The Tolkien Coming of Age Club. That would be anyone who is under 18.

Read the first post of the "Coming of Age" thread more carefully. Estelyn meant that thread for those who have been reading Tolkien for more than 18 years. That would require the posters to be much older than 18!! I've heard of child prodigies, but reading novels straight from the womb would be quite an accomplishment. Heck, I'm 29 and still don't qualify for that thread. (by one lousy year!!) [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Hey, red, how close was it to your birthday? We can make an exception for just a few months. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

red's correct. The average age in that thread is 31+, and most are in their mid-thirties to mid-forties. Sneaky way to get us to admit our ages, eh? *creeeeeak*

-Maril

[Nevfeniel]

Oh, hush, Maril, I don't think anyone here is as old as they imply [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img].
Anyhoo, I decided to read LotR when I saw the previews for the movie, but I waited until I had finished the book before I saw the movie. It was actually my mom's idea to buy the book in the first place. I read the Hobbit almost immediately after LotR, then I found the Silm and UT in the most unlikely place immaginable- a bookstore in an old, run-down town in Missouri, where not much had changed since my mother lived there.

[Cimmerian]

I saw the movie last December, or was it this January, and then got a hold of the book, a single volume of all three, this April. I have read it once so far, but I have read a couple of chapters three or four times. Especially the ones featuring Boromir, Eowyn and the Uruk hai. I just got my hands on the Hobbit, but my brother took it away and gave it to his girlfriend. I'll read it sometime later.

The movie is nothing like the book, and the book is nothing like the movie. I enjoyed the fight sequences in the movie better. Tolkien doesn't write battles well at all. He describes people rather well though.

[Bêthberry]

Hey, thanks, Nevfeniel.

I don't think anyone here is as old as they imply

You're right. We're only as old as we feel. And besides, for the Dead in our barrows, what does age matter? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Bethberry

Great, I was incredibly jealous when I saw the "Tolkien Coming of Age Club"! Anyway, I first read the hobbit ummm...when I was 9. Then when I was 11 I read FotR. I realised how great Tolkien's work was...and this year I've read LotR over eight times...so I guess I know it back-to-front. I've also read The Sil. Tolkien's great...*sighs* Btw, I'm 13 now... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ArwenBaggins]

My mom read the Hobbit to me when I was about 9, and I read LotR about a year later.
About May, I started (and i still haven't finished) the Sil.

And I'm 14.

[Melephelwen]

I'm 15, read LotR 2 years ago, so I started at 13... I read the Hobbit right afterwards, and this winter/spring I read the Sil. I've read 'til page 115 in UT and page 96 in BoLT I ... had to return them to the library [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Elenna]

Well, as someone considerably under 18, I believe I am qualified here.

I have been trying to read LOTR since I was about 8, but could never get into it. You have to admit, the exposition in the first book is pretty long. Finally, about 1 month before the movie came out, I got past part 1 of FOTR, and was immediately hooked. I devoured the whole trilogy and The Hobbit before the premier.

And here I am today.

[Rimbaud]

Actions creak louder than words, Maril?

[Artilien]

I'm 13 and i first read the Hobbit about a year and a half ago... i liked it and read LotR after that (when i got the books, a few months after i read the Hobbit)

[ October 11, 2002: Message edited by: Artilien ]

[Aramacil]

I started in the first book when i was 14 and I am now 18, the fast counters already know now that it was 4 years ago. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Ithaeliel]

I read the books when I was thirteen. I am now four months away from being fifteen. I guess that qualifies me. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

*glares up at the imposter*

[Rosseiliantiel]

Ok, um, I'm 13 and my first Tolkien book was an abbreviated with-illustrations version of the Hobbit, I read it in about grade 1 or 2 or so, then later (don't know how old I was, probably about 9) I read the LotR trilogy and then this summer I read the Silmarillion and Im reading the Lays of Beleriand right now. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[VanimaEdhel]

I first read "The Hobbit" when I was eight and first read "The Lord of the Rings" when I was nine. That makes me a 7-year Tolkien reader (I'm 15 now). In only 11 years I will make it to the Coming of Age Club! This site had better still be around then...

[Arwen Imladris]

Galadrie1: you can get the Sil from the Library. If you ask nicely you could also get it from me. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] If you add a cherry on top you could also get UT. But only if you ask nicely. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Isilya]

I'm 15, and my dad read me the Hobbit when I was 6, and again when I was 8. He tried to convince me to read LOTR, but to a 10 year old, I didn't really understand it. I finished reading it about half a year ago. I finished reading the Sil two days ago, and yes, I did understand it this time!! Woo Hoo!!

[Galadrie1]

The Sil's at the library?! I've never seen it.. I got out Farmer Giles of Ham and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil a couple days ago.. I didn't see the Sil with the Tolkien books. Must be in the adult section. Anywho, I knew you had it, it's just that you're so scary I haven't had the nerve to ask you for it [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Actually, I'm afraid of the book... I've flipped through it at a book store and it looks like extremely heavy reading.

[ September 20, 2002: Message edited by: Galadrie1 ]

[Beren87]

We'll just say I'm a member of this group. Age brings judgement.

[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Beren87 ]

[Brinniel]

Ok, I believe I posted this somewhere else, so I will make this brief.

I began reading The Hobbit last Dec. 18, I believe. My friends, teacher, and the previews of FOTR encouraged me to read it and LOTR. I thought I would hate LOTR, but I ended up loving it, and here I am today.

I originally read from my mom's 1965 copy of the books, but they started to wear and tear, so my mom bought me my own set with movie pics on the covers in an attempt to save her precious books (that she never even read) from destruction.

I am currently 14 and am a freshman in high school.

[Arwen Imladris]

it's just that you're so scary I haven't had the nerve to ask you for it

Really? Wa ha ha ha ha! [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

Ya, the sil is in the adult section. If you can't find it go to the computer and search for Tolkien and it is in there. They also have Sir Gyrain knight and tree and leaf and Roverandom.

[Eruwen]

Well, I'm 14 and I read the books about...8 or nine months ago. I started them in December after I heard of the movie. I didn't SEE the movie though until about April. But one of my friends got me started.

I have read all of LOTR, the Hobbit, the Silm, and I am still waiting to get my UT book. So...I'm not too far along right now. But that's ok.

[Nevfeniel]

Actually, I'm afraid of the book... I've flipped through it at a book store and it looks like extremely heavy reading.

Well, it is, but you get used to it after a while.

[Elenna]

I take off my (imaginary) hat to all of you who managed to read the book before you were 10. I could handle The Hobbit, but LOTR overwhelmed me.

It's funny because I get a lot of internet dirty looks for saying I only recently got really into Tolkien. But if any of you disapprovers want to go into a head-to-head trivia competition, I can probably whup you.

Tolkien was writing for adults, so all of you who were mature enough at age 8 to follow his language amaze me.

[Arwen Imladris]

Well, I know that for me, the first time I read LOTR there is no way that I understood everything. I just sort of skimmed the basic meaning. Got to know some of the caracters. I don't think that this is necesarilly only becasue of my age, but I think that most people do not understand the whole meaning the first time they read it.

[Eärendil]

Seems like I am one of the "oldies" in this thread.... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
My first CONTACT with Tolkien was when I was 3-4 years old and saw the animated film. I saw it a few times and then one day saw LOTR in the library, and decided to read it.
I first read it about 8 years ago (so the coming of age club has to wait about 10 years for me.... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]), and I was 9 at the time. I was hooked immediately. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Am reading it for my 8th time now (am in the very end.) Last year I read The Hobbit (read it 2 times) for the first time, and the Silmarillion (2 times), along with the Book of Lost Tales 1&2 (once).
I am also on my way to read Morgoth´s Ring, and am currently hunting every book in HoME.... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

There, anything else you wanna know? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[ September 24, 2002: Message edited by: Eärendil ]

[Isilya]

Ah yes, the animated film. My dad and I rented that when I was 9, but the tapes somehow got mixed up, and we got one on windsurfing or something of the sort.

[Suldaledhel]

Going back to my humble beginnings, I was first thrown into Middle-earth (quite literally, as you shall see) during the summer before my freshman year in High School, when The Hobbit had been assigned as mandatory summer reading. I naturally indulged my inherent procrastination until the last week before the scheduled test of the aforementioned piece of literature (as I can readily admit practicing even to this day, three years later), but I immediately fell in love with Arda and read The Hobbit thrice more before the exam.

I immediately got my hands on The Lord of the Rings, and read it several times. Over the course of the next two years, I plowed through the expanses of The Silmarillion, straight into the jungles of HoME--my lowly roots eventually taking hold and, in time, yielding a virtual plethora of knowledge pertaining to Middle-earth. But alas, in terms of years reading, I am but a toddler when it comes to Tolkien.

[The-Elf-Herself]

Yes, another rare post for me(I'm mostly a lurker sort of elf [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ).

I was first introduced to Tolkien at age 6, when my Aunt rented The Hobbit cartoon for us to watch. I wasn't interested, never liking cartoons and besides being more of a science-fiction kid(yes at the wee age of 6 my Mom was already steeping us in Star Wars and Star Trek). Then about eight years later, four months before the Fellowship of the Ring movie premiere(and more anti-fantasy, pro-scifi than ever), my friends coaxed me into reading the trilogy. I was immediately hooked how detailed and well-written it was. Needless to say, I finished the books, saw the movie, and have now finished the Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales. I am one year older than I was then(I'm not technically allowed to reveal my true age, but you can figure the numbers [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ). For now, Tolkien is included as one of my many interests.

P.S-I need a suggestion on what HoME book to read as I've completed reading the Unfinished Tales.

[Gorothlammothiel]

No one ever read the books to me as a child, none of my family have read them themselves.
I was 8 years old when I first found LOTR at the library, whatever possesed me to read such a book at that age I still do not know.
It took a month or two to read and my teacher complimented me for doing so, although he thought I had not understood it. I read it again at 10, then at 11 I found the Hobbit in the school libary and read that.
At 13 I read the Sil for the first time and moved on through the HoME and the others.
Eight years on from when I first picked up the books and I am still re-reading them all, and with the movies creating so many new readers it is becoming more likely that I can have the conversation about the books that I have been waiting for all this time.

[Faye Took]

When the movie first came out I bought the big fat book of the whole trilogy in it. So last year I started reading them.

[Lady_Báin]

i read the trilogy first 3 years ago (i was 13) and would have remembered the date had i know it would get so far [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] but i recently re-read it and i have read the hobbit twice even though i don't own it. i also had very humble startings, nobody in my family had heard of Tolkien save my sister who introduced me to it. i have tried to glance at the first page of the sil. but had to reach for the asprin before finishing it (the first page [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img])

[Glorfinniel the Lost]

Well, I first read LoTR last year November, was 13 at the time.
Before that my Grade 6 teacher read The Hobbit to my class, but we never really finished it due to a lack of interest.
It was more like an attraction than an interest that prompted me to read the book, I just picked it up and decided to read it. I got instantly hooked into the world of Middle Earth and soon after read the Sil, The Hobbit, UT, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and HoME.

[VanimaEdhel]

Elenna: really? I never found Tolkien's writing at all hard. He writes how I think in my head, so I felt right at home...